


delayed

by nitorisource



Category: Free!
Genre: Airports, M/M, Sousuke getting lost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-06
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-21 11:52:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3691269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitorisource/pseuds/nitorisource
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What are the chances of Sousuke losing his way in a busy airport that has more than one terminal?<br/><span class="small">edit: updated with another oneshot of Sousuke doing what Sousuke does best</span></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the airport

Although Sousuke was perfectly fine surviving an entire week without Makoto, it had been nothing short of excruciatingly lonely after becoming accustomed to seeing Makoto every day, five days a week. As soon as he gets the text message that Makoto’s plane has landed safe and sound, after being delayed a whole two hours no less, he can feel his body buzz with excitement despite it being nearly three in the morning. He stands among a crowd of others awaiting their loved ones, and has a bag of warm pastry he picked up on the way to the airport, ready for Makoto to eat on the way home.

Sousuke feels a small wave of disappointment each time someone comes through the doors and turns out to _not_ be Makoto, but he’s still hopeful despite the happy reunions that go on around him. It wouldn’t be difficult at all to spot someone so tall among the crowd, to immediately pinpoint that mess of brown hair and those green eyes and trademark smile that Sousuke has spent just the past few weeks steadily memorizing.

Only, when the last few passengers walk out and make their way to the baggage claim, Sousuke can’t help but feel like something is off. Makoto did text him just twenty minutes ago that the plane had landed, and it shouldn’t take him so long just to get off. Just as he sets his food down and fishes his phone out of his pocket, it begins to ring and flashes a picture of Makoto asleep across the screen.

“Hello? Where are you?” he asks as soon as he picks up.

“Ah – where are you?” Makoto asks back. “I’m still in the arrivals area, right beside the baggage claims.”

“Right. Me too. I’m in front of baggage claim three.” He searches the area as though he hasn’t already pored over every inch of the place twenty times in the past five minutes.

“But Sousuke, I can see baggage claim three, and there’s no one around but me and a few other people.”

“A few other people? There are still a ton of people around,” says Sousuke, glancing around the area overflown with the next batch of arrivals. Makoto is quiet on the other end of the line for a long time, and just as he speaks up, realization hits Sousuke’s weary mind like a ton of bricks. “Fuck. I’m in the wrong terminal, aren’t I?”

“Probably,” Makoto agrees, his voice tired but not at all angry.

“Shit, I’m sorry – just wait there, okay?”

“Hold on, hold on! Are you sure you don’t want _me_ to find you? Just tell me what terminal you’re at right now.” There’s no mistaking the worry in Makoto’s tone, which makes Sousuke feel even worse about having kept him waiting this whole time.

“No, don’t worry about it, you’re in terminal one, right? It won’t be hard to find, so stay put,” he insists. He’s not the same little kid from high school anymore, after all, he’s a grown up college man and finding someone in an airport shouldn’t be the most difficult task in the world, he tells himself. Before Makoto can argue further, he ends the call and immediately follows the signs that lead him to the first terminal.

Makoto knows that Sousuke means well, and that his stubbornness means he’ll have his way sooner or later, so he relents. He’s tired after such a late flight as well, so he sits down atop his luggage and keeps his eyes peeled in both directions for the sight of a six foot tall man running towards him.

Forty minutes later, when Makoto’s eyes begin to droop shut and he nearly falls off his luggage, he realizes that allowing Sousuke to have his way wasn’t such a good idea. When he checks his phone, his chest seizes at the sight of eight missed calls. Makoto has flashbacks of the few instances he’s lost Sousuke in the past, such as the day Sousuke lost his phone and couldn’t be found in the park until nightfall, and the time he and Rin had to listen to an intercom say _‘Will the parents of the boy Yamazaki Sousuke please pick him up from the service desk’_ when they’d gone to an unfamiliar mall together.

“Makoto!” Sousuke picks up before even the first ring finishes, and he sounds breathless. “Uh – are you – you know, still waiting there? Because I’ve been walking for a while now and—“

“Sousuke, please just stay where you are. Can you do that for me?” Makoto says, speaking calm enough for the both of them.

“Y-yeah, I can – I’ll – fuck!”

“What’s wrong?!”

This time, it’s Sousuke’s turn to be quiet. It takes a while before he’s able to shamefully say, “… I bought you a brownie and coffee cake but I think I left it at the wrong terminal I was at a while back.”

“Sou – it’s fine, really,” Makoto assures him, suppressing a huge sigh of relief. He can’t help but even laugh a little as he says, “Just send me a picture of where you are and I’ll get there as soon as I can, okay?”

“Yeah, okay…”

It turns out that Sousuke was rather close to finding Makoto, since it’s not too far a walk for Makoto before he finds Sousuke sitting dejectedly in front of quiet coffee shop. His face is in his hands and he’s sitting hunched over, but as soon as Makoto calls out his name, his head snaps up and relief floods his tired eyes.

“Thank god, you found me,” he says, standing up and charging towards him. Makoto only has enough time to let go of the handle of his suitcase before he’s enveloped in a crushing, one-armed embrace that he returns just as enthusiastically. “Welcome home, Makoto.”

“I’m home,” he answers, very quietly, because there isn’t much air left in his lungs at this point. Sousuke releases him just long enough to stand back and look him in the eye before he pulls Makoto back towards his chest.

“Did you miss me that much?” asks Makoto, his tone just a little teasing.

“What?” Sousuke lets go of him and raises an eyebrow. “No way. C’mon, I was pretty glad to have a whole week to myself, you know.”

“Is that so?” Makoto does a terrible job of hiding just how much those words affect him since he’s so exhausted, but he still manages a smile as he says with a heart-wrenchingly genuine tone, “Well, I missed you very much while I was gone.”

Suddenly, Sousuke feels like a giant asshole for trying to play it cool and he rubs the back of his neck as he admits, “Well, I did miss you. Kind of. A hell of a lot, actually.”

Makoto’s forlorn expression brightens as though Sousuke had just flipped a switch and he says, with a teasing smile, “I know.”

Sousuke merely shakes his head and laughs as he slips the backpack from Makoto’s shoulder and slings it over his good one. “Do you want to eat at my place?” he asks, also taking Makoto’s suitcase before he can reach for it himself. By now, it’s nearly four thirty and Makoto finds he doesn’t quite have the energy to protest Sousuke’s kind action.

“Mm. I _have_ missed your cooking most of all,” says Makoto, still smiling sweetly as ever as he begins to follow Sousuke’s lead. Before they can get very far, though, Makoto pauses and tugs on Sousuke’s sleeve, asking him, “Do you know the way out of here?”

Sousuke stares back at him, his thought process a little slower and more muddled than usual at this time and hour, but he lets out a sigh and concedes, “No, I don’t…”

Makoto let’s out another laugh, this time a little more unrestrained, as he hooks his arm through Sousuke’s free one and tugs him in the right direction. “I’m curious: how exactly did you make it to the airport in the first place?”

“Hey, watch it, Tachibana,” Sousuke warns, leaning into Makoto’s side as a tired smile begins to form on his own lips.

“Kidding, kidding." Makoto covers his mouth as he fills the air again with his laughter, the sound that Sousuke has second-to-most missed all week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this isn't based on. like. an experience that i myself, master of directions, recently suffered through.


	2. in the park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Does Sousuke really think he's in any position to help a lost puppy find its owner, too?

“I’ll go buy us some drinks,” said Sousuke in between gasps for air. He pushed himself up from the park bench, wiping at the sweat on his forehead and stretching a sore leg out, only to find himself met with one of Rin’s unimpressed, one-eye-brow-raised stares. “I saw a few vending machines a while back, it’ll take me five minutes.”

“Okay, if you say so,” Rin said, shrugging as he slung on arm over the back of the bench. “Should I set a timer and come looking for you after five minutes? Because I know I’m going to have to.”

“Hey, I’ve been living out a whole semester in this city, y’know. I think I can manage.” Sousuke’s bottom lip jutted out, just a little, as he crossed his arms over his chest and shot Rin a peeved look, to which Rin responded with a poorly hidden laugh into his fist.

“Fine, fine, take as long as you want, Sousuke.”

Well, had Rin _actually_ set an alarm like he joked, he’d have come looking for Sousuke about… thirty minutes ago. Thirty five minutes, according to Sousuke’s watch as he sits dejectedly on the grass beside his promised drinks, have passed since he left. Since he was sure they’d head straight back to his place after their jog, he didn’t bother bringing his phone along. Maybe if he stays put, Rin will be able to find him, though it’s getting to be late enough into the morning that there are now a ton of other park-goers in the area. Despite how hot it is, there are still countless families on picnics, kids playing and running around, and couples watching the ducks in the pond.

As he leans back on one arm, he tries to picture what turn he’d gotten wrong. He did manage to get to the vending machines just fine, but tracing his steps back to Rin didn’t work out as planned. He shuts his eyes, lost in thought and pondering what restaurant he and Rin should go to for lunch once he’s actually found, when he feels something nudge at his leg. Then there’s a small, high-pitched whimper and Sousuke’s eyes fly open to find a small, sad-looking puppy trying to crawl into his lap.

“Hey, hey,” he mutters, trying to move away. It’s small enough that it fits easily in his hands as he picks it up and places it a few feet away from him, hoping it’ll leave him alone, but it does quite the opposite as it beelines back to him. Whining pitifully the whole time, it tries to wedge itself into the small space between Sousuke’s hip and his resting arm.

He glances around, defeated, as he moves his arm and allows it to successfully climb into his lap. Around them, it doesn’t seem as though there’s anyone in search of a wandering pet. The tiny puppy, looking far more energetic now as it nips at his running shorts, doesn’t have a collar on and at this point he’s already developed the feeling of guilt at the thought of simply leaving it here.

“Where’s your owner?” he asks, holding a hand close to it and allowing it to lick and nibble at a finger. “Are you lost, too?” It barks at him, the tiniest sound, before nuzzling appreciatively against Sousuke’s palm. Suddenly, Sousuke feels even worse that he considered leaving this little guy all alone in this park; the only alternative left, he thinks with resolve, is finding this little guy’s owner.

As he stands, he carefully scoops the puppy up into his hand and holds him gently against his chest. In the midst of his single-minded determination at reuniting this puppy with its owner, he forgets all about the drinks he’d gotten lost for, and simply sets out down the path with no actual plan in mind aside from asking every person he comes across.

Although, typically, he’s not the most approachable person in the world thanks to his tendency to tower over people and his default stony expression, it seems having a puppy in his hand makes him look about ten times more friendly than usual. Unfortunately for Sousuke, no one that he does happen to stop is the person he and his new little friend are looking for, though he gets comment after comment about how adorably his puppy is.

Another twenty minutes pass by and the effects of his hardcore morning jog with Rin have really begun to set in his tired limbs. He realizes he’s left Rin alone for an embarrassing amount of time and once Sousuke finally pauses alongside the banks of the pond, taking a look at his surroundings and how far he’s walked, he wonders briefly whether he’s even still in the same park. How is he supposed to get back to Rin now?

As he continues to glance around, the puppy starts to writhe and squirm after being relatively calm and content this entire time. He lets out a small yelp as it scrambles free of his grasp and leaps to the ground, landing softly in the grass, before taking off scampering in another direction.

“Hey, hold on!” he calls out. He takes off after it without a second of doubt, but it runs surprisingly fast for its short legs.

He’s so focused on the puppy that he doesn’t see how, up ahead, someone shouts out, “Yuki!” as they drop to their knees and catch the puppy as it hops into their arms.

Oh. _Oh_. Sousuke stops a few feet in front of the happily reunited pair and it takes a few minutes for the shock to pass before he registers whose face exactly the puppy is so excitedly licking at.

“Tachibana?” he says, incredulous.

“Ah – Yamazaki-kun!”

“Drop the –kun,” says Sousuke, rubbing the back of his neck, “didn’t I already tell you my given name was fine?”

Makoto lets out a soft laugh as he sets the puppy down beside him, scratching the top of its head, before saying, “Right, but it’s been so long, hasn’t it? And you called _me_ by my last name, too.”

Sousuke gives him a half smile. “It’s only been about a year since I’ve last seen you,” he points out, recalling the cultural festival that, as fun as it’d been, Rin still gives him grief about just how seriously Sousuke had to take that final shot he’d taken for Nanase. Makoto, too, had taken the game real seriously, practically transforming into another person. When Sousuke had been cornered and out of ammo, if it hadn’t been for the thrill running through his blood he thought he might’ve pissed himself from the way Makoto had suddenly adopted a frighteningly determined attitude for victory. Now, though, he looks friendly as ever and actually has a pair of black-framed glasses on.

“But that was back in Iwatobi, before we’d graduated.” Makoto stands up, dusts himself off a little, and takes the puppy into his arms where it continues to happy move and wiggle around. “I’m actually a little embarrassed – we both moved here to Tokyo and yet this is the first time we’ve met again. Oh – and – and thank you so much, you brought Yuki back to me, didn’t you?”

“It’s no problem, though you might want to keep a better watch on it,” Sousuke says, quietly mulling over the cute name Makoto had given his puppy.

“Her collar was looser than I thought, and before I knew it she had gotten free and was nowhere in sight! I was so afraid I wouldn’t be able to find her in this huge place.” As though to quell his fear, he brings Yuki up to his face and lets her lick at the tip of his nose, which elicits a few happy chuckles from Makoto. “By the way – Rin is staying with you while he’s back in Japan, right? We’re supposed to meet together later for dinner, Haru, too, and even Gou is visiting Tokyo to see her brother. I’ve been really looking forward to it!”

Truthfully, Sousuke hadn’t thought of the group dinner with the same excitement. He hadn’t kept in contact with anyone other than Rin, to be honest, and even then it was occasional, so he assumed it might’ve been awkward to be around Nanase and Makoto after so long. Now, though, he was thinking of it in a different light.

“By the way,” Makoto says, “where is Rin? Are you here on your own?”

Oh. Shit. He glances at his watch. Nice.

“Right. About that.” Sousuke grimaces and feels himself pale as he tentatively asks, “Do you have your phone on you? I think I need to call Rin.”

“Ah – sure, of course.” Makoto shifts Yuki to one arm as he fishes out a green cellphone and hands it over, still smiling pleasantly and blindingly as ever.

Rin, thankfully, decided to bring his phone along and he answers on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Yo, Rin…”

“Sousuke?! Oh my f—where are you? It’s been over an hour. You got lost, didn’t you?”

“No, that’s not – okay, well, kind of, but—“

“What vending machine did you go to? The one by your apartment building? The one in Iwatobi?”

Sousuke feels as though he’s being scolded by a parent and somehow it makes him feel embarrassed to have Makoto standing right there as it happens.

“And by the way – why are you calling from Makoto’s phone?”

“I found him. I mean, his dog was lost, I returned his dog, and—“

“I thought you said all you wanted to do was buy some drinks, but you went and returned a lost pet?” Sousuke winces – right, he’d forgotten all about the drinks, and he’s sure Rin will tear him a new one for that later. “Anyway, give the phone to Makoto.”

“What? Why?”

“So that he can help you find me. I don’t know the layout of this park, though _I_ have an excuse since I’ve been in Australia all this time.”

Sousuke mumbles under his breath, but there’s no arguing so he does as he’s told. A few moments later, Rin has described his surroundings and Makoto shuts his phone. Sousuke is ready to apologize for the trouble, but Makoto beats him to it and merely says, “It’s not a problem. You helped Yuki find her way to me, so the least I can do is help you find Rin, right?”

Well, it doesn’t exactly make Sousuke happy to be equated to a lost puppy, but spending a little more time with Tachibana doesn’t exactly make him unhappy, either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to the tumblr anon who had sent me this idea!!!! i apologize for writing this so late...


End file.
